Squiz Matrix Newsletter #360

06 Jan

Welcome back Matrix aficionados for what we hope will be another exciting year full of new developments and wonderful news: 2012!!

Of course, the year started off with a bang - and I'm not just talking about the fireworks that lit the city skies on New Year's Eve. That's right, Labs kick-started the year by setting off a few little firecrackers of our own in the form of two new releases of Squiz Matrix (4.4.6 and 4.6.2).

This week we have two new features to report, including a brand new Decision Tree asset. Continue reading below for more information on all this week's developments.

Brand New: Decision Tree Asset

Due for release in versions 4.8.0 (March 5th 2012)

A new Decision Tree asset has been developed for Squiz Matrix, leading users through a dynamic series of questions and displaying a final result based on the responses given. By engaging your users through an interactive decision process, the Decision Tree asset allows you to provide information and content that caters specifically on an individual user basis.

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland - the RACQ - has partnered with Squiz to release this new asset. The RACQ website has utilised this new functionality to implement a Membership Selector tool that presents users with a series of questions, based on their responses, and then indicates the most appropriate level of membership cover for them.

Questions: the questions your users will answer on the decision tree. Questions can be formatted as either select or numeric question types and are similar in configuration to existing questions in form assets.

Results: result bodycopies are created to display to users based on their answers. For example, in the RACQ's Membership Selector, the result bodycopies display different levels of membership cover that is determined by the user's responses to each question.

Answer Destinations: response-based destinations for questions on your Decision Tree. An answer destination can be either another question or a result bodycopy. This allows you to cater the questions and results displayed specifically based on the responses your users give.

Decision Tree assets can also implement a points-based system where point values are accumulated based on the responses given. Response bodycopies can then be allocated a points range and are dynamically displayed based on the accumulation of points once users reach a question that does not have an allocated answer destination (ie. the end of the Decision Tree).

A number of new keyword replacements are available when formatting the content of the Decision Tree asset. These include:

Page Contents Bodycopy:

%decision_tree_contents%

%reset_button%

Decision Tree Question Bodycopy:

%question_title%

%question_field%

%question_note%

%accumulated_points%

%question_button% (numeric only)

Result Bodycopy:

%accumulated_points%

Additionally, question and result bodycopies on the Decision Tree are wrapped with division tags and classes for easy design implementation and CSS styling (as displayed in the RACQ's Membership Selector).

The introduction of this new Decision Tree asset aims to provide Matrix users with an alternative to complex graphs and diagrams which can be confusing to site users. The interactive decision process allows you to present information tailored specific to users in a simple and accessible manner.

Remap Manager: Option to Ignore Headers in Imported CSV Files

Due for release in versions 4.8.0 (March 5th 2012)

Squiz Matrix's Remap Manager lists the current remaps or redirects that exist in the system and allows you to manage this list.

The Remap Manager includes a CSS Upload tool, allowing you to import a number of remaps in a single batch. Previously, however, if the CSV file uploaded into Matrix contained a header line (first row of the CSV file), the import would fail due to Matrix not recognising these values as valid data.

This minor enhancement adds a new field, allowing you to indicate to Matrix that the CSV file being uploaded contains column headers. The Column Headings in CSV File? field can be found on the Details screen of the Remap Manager.

When this field is enabled, Matrix will ignore the column header values and correctly import the remap information.

Please note that this functionality will also be extended to other CSV import tools within Matrix, such as the CSV Data Source and Import Bulkmail Users Tool, in the near future.

Squiz Labs

R & D division of Squiz Pty Ltd

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Squiz Labs is the research and development division of Squiz, the company behind the Squiz Suite of web experience management and development tools.

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